"Groundhog Day?"

Flying Safety, Sept, 2004

There was a certain familiarity about the morning, as if I had been there before. A "Groundhog Day" of sorts, to reference the 1993 Bill Murray movie. Unlike in the movie, the previous two days were uneventful. So, why was I having to repeat them? That one is easy to answer. We were in our third and final day of surge operations.

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The daily events were the same as the previous two. I didn't know the pilot I was to fly with that day. The squadron was short a pilot, so we borrowed an instructor pilot from the FTU. He and I were No. 3 of the first four-ship of F-15Es. It was my third day of surge operations, flying three sorties each day, hot pitting between the first and second sorties. I arrived at 0530, as I had the previous two days. The mass briefing began at 0600. It was strikingly familiar. Our strike and weapons shops had spent the previous week constructing superb plans for each of the sorties to be flown. The routes and missions remained unchanged; however, the targets and types of attacks to be executed changed daily, each becoming more challenging.

The first sortie focused on the WSO. There was a medium altitude Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) on the way to a low-level Military Training Route (MTR), with a low altitude LGB delivery once established in route structure.

The second sortie focused on LGB operations and crew coordination performance in a time-sensitive role. The mission was a Strike Coordination and Reconnaissance and Time Sensitive Targeting (SCAR / TST) scenario with JSTARS support. The objective was to positively identify the target and collateral damage issues and put bombs on target in minimum time, provided the rules of engagement permitted based on collateral damage assessment.

The third and final sortie focused primarily on pilot bombs. The objective was to identify targets by using the Mark I eyeball. The plan called for a medium altitude ingress to a different low-level MTR than the first sortie. The low-level ended with formation pop attack on targets requiring specific identification prior to release.

After the briefing, the pilot and I had our crew coordination briefing, and I answered a couple of questions regarding our squadron standard ground operations. At 0820 our four-ship arrived at the Operations Desk for tail numbers and words. We stepped to life support, then to the jets without incident. It wasn't long before the pilot and I realized things weren't going to be as briefed. The previous two days, the jets had flown exceptionally well. That was not going to be the case today. At our first jet we found a pool of hydraulic fluid in the left engine inlet. We notified maintenance and stepped to our spare. The preflight of the spare went as advertised. We started the jet and got an ECS caution light and a bleed air light, so we aborted our second jet and awaited word on spare status. In the interim, maintenance finished the engine run and leak check of our original aircraft. We approached the aircraft, hoping for the best, but they were unable to complete the maintenance in time for us to meet our flight. Our top-three advised us we'd be on the bench for the first sortie.

The new plan was to meet 20 minutes prior to our adjusted step time to re-brief the second sortie. We briefed and stopped by the operations desk for additional words and new tail number. Deja vu: We were back to our original jet. Ground operations and taxi were normal. Finally, the flight met up in the arming area as a four-ship. The departures were 20-second, single-ship takeoffs. Flight lead took the runway and we were off to the races. We got airborne, leveled off and rejoined. Things were looking good--not! The dreaded call came from No. 4: They had a boost pump failure. The flight split, and we turned towards home with No. 4. They ran the checklist, while we backed them up and coordinated return to base. After safely dropping them off, we coordinated to meet the rest of the flight out in the working area. Upon our entry, we passed flight lead and No. 2 on their way back home. We utilized the remaining 10 minutes of airspace time and returned home without further incident. The tone of the conversation on the way back was jovial, discussing what else could possibly go wrong.

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On the ground, the flight rejoined in the hot pits as a three-ship. No. 4 ground-aborted their spare. Ground operations were normal for the three-ship. Takeoff, departure and en route to the low-level MTR were uneventful. The first three legs were planned at 1500 feet AGL and 420 KCAS due to BASH condition moderate. The remaining legs were to be flown at 500 feet AGL and 500 GS due to local guidance deleting BASH restrictions in mountainous terrain. Entering the low-level, we (No. 3) were in four-mile trail of flight lead and No. 2.

The first leg was uneventful. On the second and third leg of the route, we dodged birds on two occasions. The birds were spotted in enough time so aggressive maneuvers weren't required. Comments were made about wanting to drop to 500 feet AGL to vacate the birds' altitude. Remember, we were restricted to no lower than 1500 feet AGL due to bird condition moderate. Finally, we dropped to 500 feet without incident.